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ARCADIA, Calif. — Mike Repole has been down this path before. A promising colt of his wins the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, goes to the Kentucky Derby as the early favorite and then nothing.

Now, he’s pausing before getting consumed by Derby fever.

Fierceness won the $2 million Juvenile by 6 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita on Friday, a race won by trainer Todd Pletcher and owner-breeder Repole last year with Forte.

“They will all tell you to start thinking about the Derby,” Repole said. “I’m not going to think about the Derby with this race.”

Forte came into the Kentucky Derby on a five-race winning streak and was the morning-line favorite only to be scratched hours beforehand because of a bruise in his right front foot. Repole’s Uncle Mo, the early Derby favorite in 2011, had to be scratched the day before the race because of a gastrointestinal infection.

“I might be skipping it,” Repole said of the 150th Derby next May.

Fierceness made quite the turnaround from a 20-length defeat in the Champagne Stakes nearly a month ago. He won his debut in the mud at Saratoga by 11 lengths before getting trounced.

“The Champagne was a head scratcher,” Pletcher said. “We had to go based on what we had been seeing from him all summer, before he was training for the Champagne and after the Champagne. Mike’s not afraid to take a shot. He said if you like the way he’s training, let’s take another shot.”

Pletcher earned his 15th Cup victory, while John Velazquez notched his 20th, second among jockeys on the career list.

Fierceness ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.90 and paid $35 to win at 16-1 odds.

“This one’s really special because 14 years ago the horse that won this race called Uncle Mo put the Repole Stable on the map. And Johnny Velazquez rode him,” Repole said. “We were in our 30s, now we’re in our 50s. These wins feel a lot better now.”

Muth, trained by Bob Baffert, was second. Locked, the 2-1 favorite also trained by Pletcher, was third.

Baffert’s other entries, Prince of Monaco and Wine Me Up, were fifth and eighth, respectively. Pletcher’s third horse, Noted, finished last in the nine-horse field. The Wine Steward and Ecoro Neo were scratched.

Five of the seven horses that were scratched from Cup races Friday were for veterinary reasons, while the other two were by order of the stewards.

Racing resumes Saturday with nine Cup races, including the $6 million Classic.

Two potential contenders died in the days leading up to the two-day world championships. Geaux Rocket Ride was injured in a workout and didn’t recover after having surgery. Practical Move collapsed after a gallop in what Cup officials said was a “suspected cardiac event.”

Unquestionable won the $1 million Juvenile Turf to salvage the day for Irish trainer Aiden O’Brien.

River Tiber, his best prospect, was scratched earlier Friday by the veterinarians. “We thought he was ready to run, but obviously the vets didn’t agree,” O’Brien said.

That left O’Brien with two horses in the field and they went 1-2 as Unquestionable beat Mountain Bear by 1 1/2 lengths.

Unquestionable paid $5 to win as the 3-2 favorite. He ran a mile in 1:33.65.

Mountain Bear left the track in an equine ambulance. His status was not immediately known, although he didn’t appear to be in any obvious distress.

Big Evs kicked off the day’s five races for 2-year-olds with a half-length victory over Valiant Force in the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Starlust took third as European runners swept the first three places in the five-furlong dash. The winning time was 55:31 seconds.

Big Evs paid $8.40 to win as the 3-1 second choice. The colt improved to 4 for 6 as the first North American starter for both trainer Michael Appleby and jockey Tom Marquand.

Just F Y I extended her unbeaten streak to three with a 7-1 win in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies, giving Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott his 13th Cup win.

Tamara, the 4-5 favorite, grabbed the early lead but soon had company as Just F Y I, breaking from the outside post in the 12 horse field, quickly took up the chase. The relentless pressure paid off as Tamara faded at the top of the stretch, finishing seventh. Just F Y I and jockey Junior Alvarado were all out to hold off Jody’s Pride by a neck at the wire with Candied third.

Just F Y I paid $16 to win. The time was 1:44.58 for the 1 1/16 miles.

Trainer Chad Brown continued his dominance of the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf with his sixth win in the race as 9-1 shot Hard to Justify dug in for a half-length victory over Ireland-bred Porta Fortuna.

It was Brown’s 17th Cup win, and it came with a filly making only her third start while facing a strong field sprinkled with more experienced European runners.

Flavien Prat positioned Hard to Justify into a stalking trip, sitting right behind the pacesetting Dreamfyre. Hard to Justify surged past the tiring leader at the top of the stretch and held on for her third straight win. She ran a mile in 1:34.42. The daughter of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify paid $20.20 to win.

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Sources: World Series hero Rojas back to Dodgers

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Sources: World Series hero Rojas back to Dodgers

World Series hero Miguel Rojas will return to the Los Angeles Dodgers for what will constitute his final season in the major leagues, sources confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday.

Rojas, 36, agreed to terms on a one-year, $5.5 million contract for 2026 and will help in player development while also assisting the Dodgers front office in 2027, according to a source familiar with the agreement.

Relegated to the bench for most of the playoffs, Rojas was reinserted into the lineup for Game 6 of the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays and came up with a nifty scoop to complete a miraculous, game-ending 7-4 double play that saved the Dodgers’ season.

Roughly 24 hours later, Rojas hit the tying home run off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman in the top of the ninth of Game 7, then made a tough play to get a force out at home in the bottom half, paving the way for Will Smith‘s game-winning home run in the 11th.

Rojas debuted with the Dodgers in 2014, returned to them in a trade with the Miami Marlins leading up to the 2023 season and went on to establish himself as a vocal leader on a star-laden team, while also becoming a pivotal resource for Mookie Betts in his transition to shortstop. A gifted fielder throughout his career, Rojas also enjoyed a bounce-back offensive season in 2025, slashing .262/.318/.397 while accumulating 2.1 Baseball Reference wins above replacement in 114 regular-season games.

As the season went on, Rojas spoke openly about his desire to play one more year before transitioning into a coaching role.

The Dodgers will provide him that opportunity.

El Extrabase first reported Rojas’ agreement with the Dodgers.

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Gray: With BoSox, ‘It’s easy to hate the Yankees’

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Gray: With BoSox, 'It's easy to hate the Yankees'

Red Sox pitcher Sonny Gray apparently is looking forward to taking on his new team’s biggest rival, saying he’s happy to be in “a place where it’s easy to hate the Yankees.”

The Red Sox acquired the well-traveled Gray in a trade with the Cardinals last week, adding the durable pitcher to a starting rotation that was thin on options during Boston’s postseason ouster in New York.

Gray already is familiar with the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry after spending parts of two seasons in the Bronx earlier in his career, and the three-time All-Star didn’t mince words when discussing his experience in New York.

“It just wasn’t a good situation for me,” Gray told reporters Tuesday. “It wasn’t a great setup for me and my family. I never wanted to go there in the first place.”

That clearly wasn’t the case for Gray with the Red Sox, who needed the right-hander to waive his no-trade clause in order to complete their deal with the Cardinals.

“What did factor into my decision to come to Boston — it feels good to me to go to a place now where, you know what, it’s easy to hate the Yankees,” he said. “It’s easy to go out and have that rivalry and go into it with full force, full steam ahead. I like the challenge.”

Gray struggled to a 4.51 ERA — nearly a full run higher than his career numbers — during his 41-game run with the Yankees in 2017 and 2018. New York acquired Gray in a blockbuster deal with the Athletics only to trade him less than 18 months later to Cincinnati, where he began reviving his career with the Reds.

“When that was happening, and we were in Oakland and getting traded — that was a long time ago — I never wanted to go (to New York),” Gray said. “So then I was there, and it just didn’t really work for who I am. … I just wasn’t myself. I just didn’t feel like I was allowed to go out there and be Sonny.”

Gray, 36, has a 3.58 ERA over a 13-year career with the Athletics, Yankees, Reds, Twins and Cardinals. He joins a Red Sox rotation that is led by ace Garrett Crochet but also features a handful of unproven candidates after right-hander Brayan Bello.

Gray is the latest Red Sox pitcher to publicly say that he didn’t enjoy playing for the Yankees.

Star closer Aroldis Chapman said earlier this offseason that he would “retire on the spot” before playing for New York again, adding that he “dealt with a lot of disrespect” from Yankees management.

Gray, who is 66-50 with a 3.51 ERA in seven seasons since leaving the Yankees, acknowledged that he learned a great deal from his time in New York.

“I’ve been a better baseball player, husband, everything from having that experience and going through that,” he said.

Boston’s first series with the Yankees next season will be April 21-23 at Fenway Park. The Red Sox play their first series in Yankee Stadium from June 5-7.

If he ends up pitching for the Red Sox in the Bronx, Gray hinted that things will be different.

“This time around, it’s just go out and be yourself,” he said. “Don’t try to be anything other than yourself. If people don’t like it, it is what it is. I am who I am, and I’m OK with that.”

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St. Pete expects Trop to be ready for Rays’ opener

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St. Pete expects Trop to be ready for Rays' opener

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — City officials in St. Petersburg showed off the newly enclosed dome at Tropicana Field on Wednesday and said they are confident the ballpark will be ready for the Tampa Bay Rays‘ home opener April 6 against the Chicago Cubs following work to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Milton last year.

“We have no concern about being open or ready for Opening Day,” said Beth Herendeen, managing director of City Development Administration. “We hope we keep it that way.”

Some seam work remains on the final panels to close small gaps at the top, and interior repairs are well underway.

Tropicana Field sustained extensive damage on Oct. 9, 2024. High winds ripped sections of the original roof, allowing rain to fall into the stadium bowl for months. Water caused mold and damage to electrical, sound and broadcast systems.

The city contracted ETS, AECOM Hunt and Hennessy Construction to lead the repairs and brought back Geiger Engineering, the dome’s original designer, to help reengineer the roof. The synthetic membranes of Polytetrafluoroethylene are thicker and built to current wind-load codes.

“The roof that was replaced had to be designed to today’s codes,” city architect Raul Quintana said. “It’s a much stronger material than it was 35 years ago, and it’s going to last.”

The Rays played 2025 home games across the bay in Tampa at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees.

Installation of the new roof began in August, and the final panel was put in place Nov. 21. Some triangular panels still show color variation, with newer pieces beige and earlier ones already bleached white, but Quintana said they will eventually match.

“It took about three months to bleach out the ones that were first installed,” he said.

The air-conditioning system has been reactivated, and contractors are focused on electrical work, seating and sound equipment. The team is upgrading the luxury suites and stadium videoboard.

“Drywall is being hung, seats are being painted, and the catwalk electric is being installed,” Herendeen said. “The new stadium sound system will be installed this month and tested in January.”

New artificial turf is scheduled to arrive in mid-January. Other final updates include new home plate club seats, clubhouse carpet and lockers, and flooring on the outfield deck.

Tampa Bay starts the season with a nine-game trip to St. Louis, Milwaukee and Minnesota.

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